


Masquerade

by nickofhearts



Category: Final Fantasy XV, Persona 5
Genre: M/M, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-22 12:33:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10697100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickofhearts/pseuds/nickofhearts
Summary: Noctis makes a deal.





	1. Mission Start

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamingcicadas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingcicadas/gifts).



The monster came at him, a multitude of arms wielding sharp swords, and Noctis screamed, instinctively shutting his eyes. He expected pain, but it was suddenly quiet, the shouts of his guards and the burning smell of the other car in the convoy that had exploded replaced by unnatural stillness. Noctis opened his eyes on the floor of a strange audience chamber, an even stranger man sitting atop a golden throne.

"What—?" Noctis mumbled, getting to his feet.

The man smiled, but there was no kindness in it, all teeth. "I am Ardyn Izunia, and this is my Velvet Room." He swept an arm wide to encompass the breadth of the room that was mostly obscured by darkness, a feeling of being frozen in time like a single frame of a flickering projection. "Then, _Prince Noctis,_ shall we play a game?" 

Noctis blinked in confusion. "A game?"

Ardyn waved a hand, and a door of light appeared off to one side of the room. "You may choose to give up here, saving yourself and those around you perhaps untold suffering and pain, but there will be none to stop the darkness when it comes, swallowing up the world."

"Or—?"

"You may choose to fight," Ardyn told him. "But that shall not be so kind a fate for you." There was something almost pitying in his expression, but that too smoothed away so quickly that Noctis wasn't sure if he'd imagined it. "So, little prince. Which shall it be?"

Noctis clenched his fists, thinking of his father's men throwing away their lives fighting a daemon they couldn't hope to defeat to protect _him._ He couldn't just give up. "I'll fight."

Ardyn nodded in assent, and this time a glittering sword appearing in the air. 

Noctis reached out to grab it, screaming when it _burned_ him, but he didn't let go. It seemed the game had already started. The last thing he heard before he woke up again was Ardyn's voice in the darkness—

" _So be it._ "

-

Noctis felt the strike all the way through him, but he'd stopped the daemon's blow with his sword. It was no longer glowing, but it was unmistakably the sword Ardyn had offered him, strangely beautiful and _ancient,_ marked with sigils and runes long ago lost to any present craftsman.

He didn't know how to use it yet, but he would _learn._

For the moment, Noctis ducked and flashed out of the way of the daemon's furious blows, somehow knowing instinctively how without having to be taught, as if taking the sword had unlocked the magic within him. He managed to avoid any further injuries until Regis arrived with his own retinue, making quick work of the daemon that had struck down so many of his men and almost taken the life of his son and only heir.

Noctis ran to his father crying in relief, the sword dropping from his hand, but it never hit the ground.


	2. Tutorial Level

Noctis woke up, and it was all dark, a floaty weightless feeling like he was outside of his body. He held out his hand, and the glittering sword appeared in it, a beacon of shining light.

"This is the Realm of Shadows," Ardyn said, echoing, though Noctis couldn't see him.

"The...Realm of Shadows?"

"A place between the waking and dreaming worlds that shows the truth of people's hearts—" there was a ripple like a stone being dropped into a pond, and the previously inscrutable darkness gained definition until Noctis realized he was still in the castle. 

He recognized his room, though the items in it looked strange and unearthly in this strange crimson twilight that painted everything in one dimension, lacking any real depth.

Noctis walked to the window, looking out over the city. The buildings looked as if they were lined up on one plane, that perhaps he could slip between them as easily as ducking in and out of the shadows they cast, black rectangles on the ground.

"Tonight's objective will be simple," Ardyn's voice came again. "Catch the Carbuncle."

Noctis started as a little Carbuncle appeared on the windowsill, its form white and glimmering in the darkness. It twitched its nose at him, as if laughing, and then took off in a blur, almost lost in the shadows. Noctis jumped up on the sill, peering out into the darkness until he caught its sparkle again, and he threw his sword, flashing after it.

-

It was almost morning when he'd finally caught up, taking a flying leap that had landed him on the Carbuncle, grasping at fluffy softness that dissolved away as soon as he touched it. 

He felt strangely refreshed, though he'd been running all night, and Noctis stared at his hands, wondering if there was something different about them. It was almost as if they'd taken on the glow of the Carbuncle.

"It's not a Carbuncle in _actuality_ ," Ardyn informed him, appearing out of the shadows to grace Noctis with his terrible smile. "Merely a representation of human wishes." 

Noctis scrunched his face up, puzzling that through. "Why does it look like—"

"That's only how they look to you, Noctis." He held out his own hand, closing his eyes in concentration, and another little Carbuncle appeared, turning around in a circle before it curled up in Ardyn's palm, tail tucked to nose. "This doesn't look like a Carbuncle to me, for example." Ardyn's fingers clenched shut, and Noctis almost shouted, but it was just like before, when Noctis had grabbed onto the other Carbuncle. Just a sparkle of white light, dissolving away.

"How do they look to you—?"

Noctis woke up before Ardyn answered.

-

"The Realm of Shadows," Noctis wondered to himself. Where human wishes took on the shape of things yearned for. Noctis picked up the little Carbuncle carving that kept tireless vigil at his bedside, in place of the father that had a whole kingdom to care for, no time enough for bedtime stories now that Noctis was old enough to look after himself.

He wrapped his arms around his knees, knowing this was just the beginning. Whatever Ardyn had saved him for, this was only the very first step into a bottomless abyss.


	3. Timed Objectives

Noctis leapt out of the shadows at the daemon—a monstrous growling thing with golden eyes that gleamed in the darkness—but before his sword could cut it down, everything stopped, time frozen.

Ardyn appeared at his side, and the whole world shifted. 

They weren't in the shadow realm anymore, or they were, but the scene they were watching wasn't: the colour of the grass was so vividly green it almost hurt Noctis to look at after spending so long seeing only monochromatic shadows. The daemon was as well no longer a writhing mass of seething darkness, but a bandersnatch stalking through the trees, giant maw gaping.

"Too _slow,_ Noctis," Ardyn said. "The dawn has come." 

Noctis tried to strike it down even so, but Ardyn caught him around the wrist, grip like an iron band. 

"Your failures have _consequences,_ your highness. _Watch._ "

Noctis couldn't do anything else as the bandersnatch looked up suddenly, scenting something on the wind. It dashed forward, and the scenery blurred around them, though they hadn't moved. Noctis _watched_ as it barreled into a group of hunters, goring them with its tusks, the bodies tossed into the air like nothing more than dolls, the bright red colour of their blood in the light of day nothing like the crimson painted planes of that other place. 

" _No!_ " Noctis screamed, was still screaming as he woke up.

He clutched at the bedsheets, gasping sobbing breaths. He could still see the hunters' faces, the terror and pained expressions frozen forever in his memories. It was his _fault,_ he hadn't been able to save them. Noctis cried until he didn't have any more tears left, and then he made them a promise.

_He would do better._

-

Noctis trained until he could barely stand, wooden sword shaking in his hand, and then he kept going. He _needed_ to get stronger. Ardyn had explained it once: the strength he had in the shadow world was a reflection of his strength in reality, though his exertions during the night had no effect on his actual body, because it wasn't his body running through the shadows, only his spirit, _his_ shadow.

He collapsed in a heap on the end of a practice swing, but he braced himself on his sword and staggered to his feet again. He couldn't let anyone else die because he wasn't strong enough.

-

"Your highness," Gladiolus approached him at the beginning of their next session. "Your sudden perseverance is admirable, but aren't you pushing yourself too hard?"

Noctis gave him an even look. "I need to get stronger."

"I get it, but you have _years_ to learn all these skills. You're already well ahead of—"

" _I don't have any time,_ " Noctis snarled, slamming Gladiolus into the wall. He felt the world flicker, shadows lengthening at the corners of his vision, and Noctis had to take deep calming breaths and remind himself that he _wasn't_ in that world, he couldn't bend people's hearts here as simple as catching the Carbuncle that was their heart's desire. "Either _help me,_ or back off, _Shield._ "

Gladiolus' expression firmed, but Noctis couldn't tell if it was in his favour.

"You leave your left side open when you're striking with your dominant hand," he said in answer.

Noctis smiled, savage. " _Teach me,_ " he ordered, and Gladiolus nodded, acquiescing, following him into the training room.


	4. Open World

"Noctis," his father said, standing in the shadow of his doorway. "I received a report that you've been missing classes, whole days at times. Is something wrong? You can always talk to—"

"When were you going to tell me?" Noctis asked, looking up from where he was wiping down his sword, the fine edge of it that was always sharp, not needing to be honed. He let it fade away into that other space between realities, sitting still so he could stare his _father_ in the eyes. "Or weren't you?"

"Noctis—"

"The _Chosen_ King," Noctis filled in for him, eyes burning with tears. "The one to banish the darkness, making the greatest sacrifice of all."

"Noctis, I—"

"I'm not _prepared!_ " Noctis screamed. He felt the shadows roiling, his consciousness of that other place pressing in on him, how Regis there looked like a shining mythical figure, limned with white light. "It's too much," he whispered, curling up with his knees tucked to his chest. He was still—sometimes the objectives were impossible, unreachable no matter how hard Noctis tried or pushed, and he wondered if that was purposeful, that Ardyn _wanted_ to see him fail—"What use is _school?_ "

"You have _years_ ahead of you, Noctis. It doesn't have to be—"

"I _don't,_ " Noctis said, sudden understanding dawning: he wasting his time here, treading water. He couldn't get better if everyone around him _coddled_ him. He'd long ago learned all that Gladiolus had had to teach him, had been sneaking into Kingsglaive training sessions to watch them from the shadows, teaching _himself._

He didn't have anything prepared, but he didn't need it in that other world.

Noctis' sword was in his hand immediately, an extension of his own self, and he flashed out through the window even as Regis reached for him, calling his name. He didn't need— _human entanglements;_ they were all pieces on a board that Ardyn moved, mocking laughter when Noctis had to watch him knock them over, so many nameless grimacing faces flashing before his eyes whenever he closed them.

"I'll become stronger," Noctis said into the darkness, _clothed_ in it.

One of the first lessons Ardyn had taught him had been how to move through the world without being seen, and he employed those techniques now, slipping through shadows. The Wall glowed white in his other vision, and Noctis knew there would be no going back once he stepped outside its borders, that perhaps that option hadn't been his since the very beginning, when he'd agreed to play the game.

"Goodbye, _father,_ " Noctis murmured, and he stepped through.


	5. Game Within a Game

The place they were in didn't look like the usual shadow realm—a strange colourfulness to it, vibrant and sparkling with life—though it also obviously wasn't reality. Noctis watched the people move through it, chattering animatedly, as if nothing was strange or off about the carnival-esque atmosphere, the ridiculous costumes of the mascots that danced and waved at him.

Noctis steeled himself, prepared for whatever he had to accomplish in this bizarre landscape. "What's the objective?"

Ardyn only smiled, holding out his hand. "That's a secret."

"What?" Noctis asked, but he took it nevertheless.

"Worry not, Noctis. There shall be no deaths at the end of this eve, except perhaps a _little_ one." Ardyn smiled at him again, teeth flashing.

"...right," Noctis answered, confused all the more. He was distracted suddenly by a colourful balloon floating past his face, and he grabbed at it automatically.

"Thank you, Prince Noctis!" a little girl chirped at him.

Noctis handed her the balloon, feeling oddly out of place. He didn't have an objective—or at least one that he could make _sense_ of, and everyone around him seemed so _happy,_ like they didn't have a care in the world. "Is this—paradise?"

"Perhaps," Ardyn allowed, though the sly tilt of his mouth suggested otherwise.

"A collective dream?" Noctis hazarded. The whole place gave him the same feeling as brushing his fingers over a Carbuncle's soft fur, the few seconds before the wish dissolved, fading into nothingness.

"Closer," Ardyn agreed. He stopped at a stand on the side of the street and collected two overflowing desserts from the vendor, handing one to Noctis.

Noctis bit off a piece of a wafer, then the top of the ice cream, stacked up high. It was sweet and cool, exactly as he remembered from his early childhood. The memory flooded back suddenly, a feeling of warmth blossoming in his stomach. 

" _Oh,_ " he said, surprised.

Ardyn squeezed his hand, and Noctis remembered he was still holding it.

-

Ardyn took him ambling down the promenade, seemingly no destination in mind, but Noctis knew him better than that—nothing Ardyn did lacked _purpose._

"Isn't this enough?" Noctis asked, when he'd humoured Ardyn through roughly a half-dozen little games at the festival. He'd hunted down fluffy chocobo chicks—easy after all the time he'd spent racing after Carbuncles; he'd answered bizzare riddles that involved shifting around cutsey present boxes; he'd smashed into cactaurs darting around a stadium ring. He'd even topped the scores at a shooting gallery, winning a giant stuffed chocobo that he'd handed to Ardyn, who laughed, vanishing it into the air. Noctis had a brief impression of it leaned against the side of Ardyn's throne, a touch of softness in a cold place.

Yet, that'd been the only game that hadn't felt _strange_ to him. "It's almost dawn," Noctis added when Ardyn hadn't responded after a minute.

"Almost," Ardyn agreed. "But not quite." 

He tugged Noctis along until they'd reached the end of the lane, a lavish hotel rising up before them.

Noctis had a moment of disorientation, feeling his perception waver. He couldn't quite tell if they were in reality or still in the other place—the hotel seemed to exist simultaneously in both, though that was impossible.

" _Relax,_ Noctis," Ardyn chuckled in his ear. 

Noctis didn't, though he let Ardyn pull him along into the elevator, transparent glass walls. They got out at the highest level, past clouds and birds flying unconcernedly by.

"And at last, our objective," Ardyn whispered, so close that Noctis could feel the heat emanating off him, as if this were _real._

It took him a moment—" _Our_ objective?"

Ardyn put a hand on his chest, and pushed him back, and Noctis was suddenly sinking into a soft bed, Ardyn braced over him, smiling that dark familiar smile, which always sent shivers down Noctis' spine. " _Quite,_ Noctis," and bent closer still to kiss him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER, THE END. ARDYN DOESN'T TURN OUT TO BE THE FINAL BOSS, NOCTIS DOESN'T HAVE TO TAKE OVER THE VELVET ROOM TO BALANCE LIGHT AND DARKNESS, HEARTBROKEN AND BETRAYED—NONE OF THAT HAPPENS, NOPE. 
> 
> THEY CAN JUST EXIST FOREVER IN THIS UNCERTAIN MOMENT OF BLISSFULNESS.


End file.
